The high court on Tuesday issued an order allowing Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation to resume boring of tunnels for East-West Metro in Bowbazar.
Work on the project was suspended after a tunnel-boring machine hit an acquifer under Bowbazar on August 31, triggering large-scale subsidence that damaged many houses.
A report by IIT Madras prompted the high court division bench headed by Chief Justice T.B.N. Radhakrishnan to allow KMRC, the implementing agency of the project, to resume work.
“KMRC should make arrangements so that experts from IIT Madras can inspect the construction area once in a fortnight. KMRC can continue work only after the approval from the experts,” the bench ruled.
KMRC has also been asked to file progress reports on the construction from time to time.
A four-member committee of the IIT, headed by professor K. Rajagopal, the institute chair of the department of civil engineering, has made the following recommendations in its report
- Increased monitoring
- More frequent measurement of deformations
- Improved co-ordination between field staff and officials
